Sluggish Cats take down Seawolves

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky was hoping to tune up for NorthCarolina. A sluggish start Tuesday night instead evoked memories ofGardner-Webb. The Wildcats (4-1) ultimately survived a closer-than-expected62-52 victory over winless Stony Brook, but coach Billy Gillispie -seldom pleased - certainly had cause for concern this time. The coach had a short list of what Kentucky needs to improve todefeat the top-ranked Tar Heels, coming to town Saturday. "Everything," Gillispie said. On Tuesday night, shooting woes were the early problem. Later, aporous defense helped Stony Brook claw back into the game.Gillispie even benched senior guards Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawfordin the second half, displeased with their defensive effort. But unlike the Wildcats' recent upset defeat by Gardner-Webb,this outing was good enough to beat Stony Brook (0-6). Good enoughto beat the nation's No. 1 team? That's another story. "We definitely will have to raise our game up," Crawford said."We need to pass the ball better, and we can't have 20 turnovers.That is only hurting ourselves." As usual, freshman Patrick Patterson provided the spark, scoring19 points and matching his career-high 12 rebounds. Gillispie saidhe should have gotten more opportunities, but Patterson didn'tblame the guards. "The guards were trying to get us the ball, but we were neverat the right spot at the right time," he said. Stony Brook trailed by 19 points in the second half but foughtback to cut the lead to 43-37 with less than seven minutes left ona 3-pointer by Michael Tyree. Perry Stevenson dunked home a missedshot seconds later, as the Wildcats padded the lead. At least for one game, Stevenson - a specialist at blockingshots - provided Kentucky a scorer in the post alongside Patterson.He recorded his first career double-double with personal bests of18 points and 10 rebounds. "I haven't played this well since I got here," Stevenson said. Both teams were ice-cold out of the gate, combining for just 10points in the first 10 minutes. Kentucky misfired on 12 of its first 13 shots in that span,connecting only on Patterson's put-back of Crawford's missed3-pointer. Kentucky didn't score again from the field untilPatterson's dunk with 9:32 left in the half narrowed the margin totwo points. The Wildcats took the lead for good at 14-12 four minutes lateron Stevenson's jumper from the free-throw line. Stony Brook's Mitchell Beauford led all scorers with 20 points. Kentucky went on an 8-0 run the last two minutes of the firsthalf and led 26-14 at the break. But if Kentucky's offense was poor, Stony Brook's was worse. TheSeawolves didn't get their first assist until four minutes into thesecond half and finished with just five in the game. Defensively, the Seawolves were outmatched by the biggerWildcats. Seven different Kentucky players blocked shots, comparedwith none for Stony Brook. "Bigger, stronger, tougher and faster was a toughcombination," Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell said. "At noposition did we have an advantage size-wise."

Online Public Information File

Viewers with disabilities can get assistance accessing this station's FCC Public Inspection File by contacting the station with the information listed below. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, 888-835-5322 (TTY), or fccinfo@fcc.gov.